Now in volume production, and with a customer list of over 20 leading global telecom OEMs, Passave has established itself as the leader in the growing EPON silicon market
Santa Clara, CA – February 17, 2004 – Passave, a leading developer of semiconductor devices for Ethernet passive optical networks (EPONs), announced today volume production of its second-generation EPON silicon, shipping to a base of 20 paying customers in Asia, North America and Europe. EPON offers fiber to the home (FTTH) broadband access at 1000 times the speed of DSL or cable modems.
Passave´s growing customer list includes eight multi-billion-dollar Japanese telecom original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), and the two firms named by NTT as winners in its recent request for proposals (RFP) for EPON optical line terminal (OLT) systems. EPON is a new IEEE standard emerging as the low-cost, high-volume FTTH technology of choice. Providing broadband access based on Gigabit Ethernet, EPON revolutionizes the end-user experience and enables a suite of IP-based, high-bandwidth applications such as high-definition video and television over IP.
“Passave appears to be the silicon front runner in EPON,” said Michael Howard, principal analyst and co-founder of Infonetics Research, an international market research and consulting firm. “Passave has second-generation technology, close collaboration with service providers, and penetration of key Asian markets, which puts them in position to maintain an early lead in those markets, and gives them a good opportunity to provide US carriers an Ethernet PON technology for their FTTH deployments.”
Fiber-to-the-home deployment is rapidly moving forward. Japan is leading the way, with some one million FTTH subscribers to date, and other Asian markets are planning to follow Japan´s model of aggressive FTTH deployments. Nippon Telephone and Telegraph (NTT), the world´s largest and fastest growing FTTH provider, has recently issued an RFP and selected EPON equipment suppliers. A number of other Asian carriers have already announced their plans for deploying EPONs, with North American and European carriers expected to follow suit.
The adoption of EPON by major global carriers has also fueled Passave´s strong revenue growth. Passave achieved revenues of over 1 million in the past 12 months from EPON silicon and reference designs, and revenues in 2004 are already ahead of plan, driving the company to a positive cash flow.
“We are extremely gratified by the vote of confidence in Passave from our growing base of tier-one customers,” said Victor Vaisleib, CEO of Passave. “We are committed to helping our customers succeed in the EPON and FTTH markets by providing unrivaled devices with exceptional support.”
Passave will present live demos of FTTH solutions incorporating high-definition video traffic at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference & Exposition (OFC), booth 3923, at the Los Angeles Convention Center, February 24-26, 2004. For information, visit www.ofcconference.org.
About Passave
Passave Inc. is a fabless system-on-chip vendor offering integrated solutions for broadband fiber access. Passave delivers complete, standard-compliant and interoperable solutions for Ethernet passive optical networks (EPONs) that expedite the OEM design process and dramatically reduce product cost. Leveraging Ethernet and IP technologies, Passave offers complete chipsets for fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) systems. Founded in 2001, Passave has received strategic backing from leading venture capital firms and private investors. For more information about Passave, visit www.passave.com.